Monday, November 02, 2009

Persian Apologies and Washington Platitudes

This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is indeed a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically-elected Iranian government.

"Thirty years ago in the turmoil of the revolutionary zeal an indefensible act of hostage taking was committed that the new generation of Iran are not proud of at all," he said. "We know very well how that deplorable action hurt the noble American people and how it led to three decades of unnecessary and painful bad relations between our two nations.

"Only a small and repressive minority who rule Iran today still insist on keeping Iran on a confrontation course with the US, Britain and the West and indeed they have now taken the Iranian people as hostage to their destructive policies."

What a strange world we live in. Of course this is a very encouraging development, one that will hopefully hold some sway over the tyrannical Ayatollahs. Some may also view this as the culmination of Obama's dream made clear in the Cairo speech but the problem is he's yet to fully embrace what he asked for.